Chris Register’s Sabbatical

2009-08-24T21:10:00.002-04:00

Well today officially ends the sabbatical, and therefore this blog expires. This last print of Bernie Maddoff was printed this morning, two hours before I headed off to teach —first time since December. So much happened. So many experiences. I also printed a horrible block of LBJ, and realized, after four subsequent blocks, that the first was the best. Go figure. With luck the scoundrels will live on.

2009-08-09T20:05:00.001-04:00

The folio of prints, Stampati a Venezia. Eight prints, and seven quote pages, all bound in a Kivar case.

2009-08-07T09:44:00.003-04:00

LBJ is turning out to be very difficult. I have two abandoned blocks, this one which I printed, and I am working on a fourth. He has a characteristic face, but... I don't know.

2009-08-04T20:06:00.000-04:00

Oops, forgot one!

2009-08-04T19:59:00.002-04:00

Some more paintings from Venice. The Rialto market and Pescheria (red awnings) is an amazing place. Talk about wonderful looking fish! Every day from 7am to noon. Weekends it's a flea market.

2009-07-09T18:08:00.000-04:00

Top LBJ is the current block. Rejected block is of the sketch at the bottom.

2009-07-09T17:52:00.004-04:00

Ponte de le Colonne, Venice. W/C on Fabriano paper. 9" x 12". Third studio watercolor done since returning from Italy. New LBJ engraving continues. Different, and probably not better than the first. Some of these people are hard to do. J. Edgar Hoover took three or four different blocks before settling on the right one.

2009-07-02T18:14:00.004-04:00

Back in the States, and working on a new engraving of LBJ, after the first one, which took a painful amount of time, didn't come out to my liking. These three—stampati a Venezia—are from top: Frank Hamer, Newt Gingrich, and Leona Helmsley. Finding it harder to get to their good side. Hamer was renowned as a successful lawman, and Texas Ranger, who brought down Clyde and Bonnie. However it seems that they never gave C & B a chance to give up, and after riddling them with bullets, Hamer stuck his gun through the back window and gave Bonnie a burst for good measure well after it was obvious she was dead. Gingrich is just an egotist who is also a hypocrite, and Helmsley berated staff for the smallest offenses. Ended up printing an edition of five of the eight blocks I had in Venice. Five I shipped, and three I did while there. Set a plate sheet with each print which has their name and a salient quote. Gave one set to the Scuola Internazionale di Graphica, and have four that I have assembled in an embossed kivar folio case. They look handsome, but have mistakes. But given that I learned all this in Venice, with some old and damaged type, I find it a great record of my time there. Will do the entire Scoundrels series, 25 images and accompanying quote pages on the Longwood Vandercook, with type set on the computer but letterpress printed from polymer plates, with the goal of an edition of 15, in boxes. We will see. I think I am therefore halfway through this project. I am done with over 25 blocks. They are printed on Fabriano Rosapina paper, from resingrave blocks.

2009-05-15T04:46:00.001-04:00

Residency ends today, as does consistent internet access. Will try to post some more pictures before I return.

2009-04-24T03:12:00.002-04:00

Some more views. They say Venice has amazing light. I would agree to that statement. Cool dogs too. They are generally little guys and gals.

2009-04-18T04:40:00.002-04:00

Some random shots from Italy. These pictures were all taken on my way to the school in the morning. The ugly mug of me is in my favorite coffee shop a block from my apartment. It is very crowded during the week, but today, Saturday, it is amazingly quiet. Cool nights and warm days. Materials still in customs, but I have other work to do, so I am busy.

2009-04-02T13:36:00.002-04:00

Burnside and Ponzi. I can't find anything good about Charles Ponzi. Even after he was caught and did time, he moved to Florida and started all over again. So I suppose we shouldn't let Maddoff out any time soon if history teaches us anything.

2009-04-01T09:23:00.003-04:00

Well, a week and a half before I am off to Venice. Will ship a box of art supplies today. Will ship a block of Newt Gingrich to carve for those cold rainy days. These are the drawings for the blocks of Charles Ponzi, and another of Ambrose Burnside. I was told when I worked there that Burnside started the NRA in 1868 because he felt the marksmanship of the Union soldiers had been lacking. Seems this was not really true, but two Union Generals did start NRA in 1871 for the marksmanship reason. His incompetence as General of the Army of the Potomac lead to a disaster at Fredericksburg.

Ponzi of course is the author of the scheme by his name. Will need to see what he did that was of any value before he makes the cut. A great show of the sculpture of Louise Bourgeois at the Hirshorn gave me an idea on how to present the scoundrels.

2009-03-17T12:39:00.002-04:00

Orval Faubus, former Arkansas governor who fought to keep nine black students from enrolling in Central High School in Little Rock, although it seems that possibly some of his more vitriolic segregationist stances were more about catering to white racists than deep held beliefs. What do I know? Politics makes people do strange things, and are our corporate fat cats, the thieves that they are, to be excused because they bring us jobs? Funny how the top echelons always insulate themselves from the firings. Make $200 million one year, and $1 the next, still averages out to about $100 million a year, but we are to think they are such philanth, philanth, philanthr...doers of good deeds.

2009-03-10T12:21:00.001-04:00

Engraving of Governor Ross Barnett of Mississippi. His pictures always make him appear angry, or up to something. This I find makes him look angry and up to something.

2009-03-10T12:19:00.001-04:00

Two oil portraits. I am not a very good painter, but I enjoy painting so much. It is just a whole different way of looking. There were no prelim. drawings, these are just painted directly.

2009-03-05T20:12:00.003-05:00

Henry Kissinger. This took an inordinate amount of time to engrave (boo-hoo, right?) but it was absolutely minimal in corrections or reworking. I spent last weekend printing all the Scoundrels, and I realized the sloppy engraving I did two years ago. Made a dummy box for the boxed sets, which turned out well, but is very difficult to do right.

2009-02-26T17:41:00.002-05:00

O.K, this is going to be difficult. Not technically, but philosphically. Prelim. drawings for my next two Scoundrel engravings. Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett, and Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus. Barnett personally went to Ole Miss to block James Meredith from attending college. Let's imagine Tim Kaine, or Jim Gilmore, (Okay, maybe Gilmore) going to Longwood to prevent a gay student from enrolling?!!! There is not much that I have found yet to redeem Barnett, so he may not meet my Scoundrel code of having been accomplished as well as being a jerk. Faubus, who wanted to prevent nine black students from enrolling in Central High School in Little Rock, seems to have had some redeeming qualities, as did Governor Almond in Virginia. Don't get me wrong, redeeming is a relative term—their actions were appalling. But there seems to be some humanity vs. Barnett. Listen to tapes of Barnett crab walking around JFK when the president called to find out what was going on in Mississippi. He is straight out of central casting for a 50s southern racist.

2009-02-26T17:33:00.001-05:00

Prelim. drawing and in-progress painting, Woman in a red leather chair.

2009-02-26T17:26:00.002-05:00

The next scoundrel, Henry Kissinger. This is the prelim. drawing for what is turning into a bear of an engraving. It's taken a beastly amount of time. Kissinger is an interesting person. Brilliant, managed to come through the whole Nixon resignation as a close friend of that jerk Nixon, but with plenty of blood on his own hands what with Vietnam and all. It is interesting listening to NPR about the economic crisis, all the while staring into the faces of the historical scoundrels. The greed, the power mongering, the need to make money—LOTS of money. Doesn't this financial disaster make anyone realize that there is more to life than making money?

2009-02-14T09:17:00.002-05:00

J. Edgar Hoover—again. Spidery webs of lines, leaden eyelids, strange curl to the lips. This guy creeps me out. I was raised to believe in his story though, defender of good, he captured Alvin Karpis, started the F.B.I. But made no bones about using any information he got on political enemies to try and destroy them. Almost relished calling RFK to tell him JFK had been shot.

2009-02-12T07:59:00.002-05:00

Another of J. Edgar Hoover. Half way through the engraving—this is the drawing transfered to the block. I keep going back to J.E. The ultimate scoundrel—cop and creep. I think that is why I need to get him right. Think I'll try and get some blocks of lemonwood. Apparently that is the most common wood used now. Easier than box, but better than maple.

2009-02-08T19:20:00.003-05:00

Oh, boy, this really stinks. My first true wood engraving, done on an endgrain Artboards maple block 4 x 5 inches. The top image is what I did, the bottom is what I should have done (retouched in photoshop) at least as far as the cutting and treatment of light and dark. The wood is softer, bruises easily (When you dig in with the burin, the belly of the burin bruises any line underneath it). I felt I had a new set of tools, and ones I always used on resingrave, I rarely use, and vice versa. The large areas are a breeze to remove. The very thin lines do not cut very well. I think I was experimenting really, but in the back of my mind I thought "I know this, here we go." Ink stays on the block, so if you mess up with the brayer, you get smudges that aren't easily washed off. The chips and sawdust are much more a nuisance, but the feel of the cuts seem more pleasing in a way. More gritty and natural, not like you're a kid carving into your parents kitchen floor. This is just a proof on newsprint, and I doubt I will ever print any more. I wonder if Boxwood is harder and holds smaller lines better? God it seems no matter what medium I am working in, I fall back into bad habits.

2009-02-06T09:03:00.002-05:00

Harry F. Byrd. I experimented with many more textures, and with a new ink workup which now seems to hold the even the thinnest of lines. He looks a little like FDR in this print, and I began wondering if I shouldn't put them in costumes or with props. I have another similar drawing on end grain maple—my first actual wood engraving. That's pretty exciting.

2009-02-04T21:15:00.001-05:00

I've begun working in a moleskine. This from from recent figure studies. Engraving of Harry Byrd almost complete. Purchased some offset black ink from a local printer. Mixed with a LITTLE wiping compound seems to make the ink more workable.

2009-02-01T10:51:00.000-05:00

Preliminary drawing for Harry Flood Byrd, U.S. Senator from Virginia, and leader of the pols who opposed Brown v. Board of Education, coined the term "Massive Resistance" which lead to the closing of Virginia schools. He was politically powerful in Virginia politics, serving as the virtual gate keeper to anyone wanting to run for statewide office. Was a very skilled politician whose segregationist fervor was reprehensible—thus a scoundrel.

2009-01-29T18:07:00.000-05:00

Engraving and drawing for the second go around with General Montgomery. Yeesh, I think the first one is better actually, now that I am done with the new one. I really am not liking this more controlled engraving, although I worked on a discarded Hopper block today practicing cuts from wide to thin. It's a 7 part process—re-entering the line with various tint tools, and various sized spitzstickers. Wrote it down. May just print from that block and see if it works out. Looks less like Hitler though.

2009-01-27T09:31:00.000-05:00

Engraving of Bernard Montgomery, which turned out better than I thought as I was doing it, although I am going to do this again. Wasn't sure if the loose marker-like marks of the coat would work with the more controlled engraving of the face. He ends up looking surprisingly like Hitler. He will end up tighter than the others, because I can imagine he was probably not a free spirit.

2009-01-19T17:34:00.000-05:00

Two new watercolors—large, 13" x 19"—of a clothesline in summertime. I'm hoping to capture the sense of wind and warmth, as well as trying some scumbling, spattering and much more use of opaque and transparent watercolor and qouache and drybrush.

2009-01-19T10:51:00.000-05:00

These are the sketches for the Scoundrel engraving of General B. L. Montgomery. The bottom one being the most interesting as an engraving. He has a fascinating face.

Went to see the Norman Rockwell exhibit at the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk. Amazing to se his work up close, and to see how much he actually painted, which is often lost in the reproductions of his work.

2009-01-15T13:41:00.000-05:00

Another Key West gouache. These are done on small scraps of bookbinder's board which is sturdy, has a warm, neutral, middle tone, and accepts the paint nicely. It doesn't result in such a chalky appearance.

I have begun the preliminary drawings for the next Scoundrel—Field Marshal B. Montgomery. I also started a large watercolor of a summer clothesline.

2009-01-12T18:27:00.000-05:00

Printed this engraving today. Finished it yesterday. It is coming a lot easier, the engraving. I know now how much to remove, I am more comfortable with the tools. This is titled Death Mask. Not a scoundrel, but not an ogre like I thought. I will read more about ogres, although I think I read you can confuse them by running backwards. I am re- reading In Cold Blood. An amazingingly written book. I don't know what I will start next. Today officially begins my sabbatical.

2009-01-10T10:52:00.000-05:00

January 10

Another gouache, this time of a summer clothesline. I did this out of a small watercolor travel box with a limited (12) set of colors, and some new brushes—mostly white nylon flats. I have never felt comfortable working out of one of these boxes, but figured that the travel requirements will make me have to like them. It occurred to me to (duh) clean them with a sponge between each use, and that would keep the colors relatively clean. I have read that many people like these commercial water brushes, where there is a barrel of water in the handle to wet and clean the brush. I'll try that. O/A I'm trying to loosen these paintings up, not tighten them down, and figure the limited colors, larger flatter brushes and this little box of pan watercolors ought to push me in that direction. I continue to work on an orge engraving. I have found in the winter the need to warm up the resingrave is more and more necessary to avoid the annoying chips along the edge and at the end of a cut.

2009-01-07T21:25:00.000-05:00

January 7:

New gouache of Key West.

2009-01-07T08:28:00.000-05:00

above: preliminary sketch of Hoover

January 7:

Finished this engraving of J. E. Hoover in a rather short amount of time. I don't think my ink is mixed right. It is either too sticky or too thin. I will have to experiment with that. Hoover was a scoundrel all right. The Nation's G-Man, fighter of crime, but also one of our worst spies. Spying on anyone he could, and using his position of power to be able to do it. Parts of this print I really like, particularly the rapid strokes and translation of a quick sketch to such a slow and labor intensive process. The callous on my finger is hardening, but this process is very physical. My shoulder aches, but I am at least over the tennis elbow it gave me in my left arm.

2009-01-01T19:26:00.000-05:00

January 1, 2009

Finished and printed this engraving of Edward Hopper. More I think about it the less of a scoundrel he becomes. My Winslow Homer image is less and less a scoundrel as well. Printing and engraving are becoming more comfortable now. Very little work with the dremel.

2008-12-29T18:48:00.000-05:00

December 29

I have finished two more gouache paintings of Key West while engraving the Edward Hopper portrait. These gouaches have tightened up a bit, which I don't like. Also, I will need to work at something big. Everything is small. Tonight I exposed some Pulsar indirect photo silkscreen film to a screen, working at trying to figure out the times of my exposure unit.. I think I want to do some more silkscreen, maybe with the scoundrels, but I don't know how just yet.

2008-12-23T08:56:00.000-05:00

December 23

Finished this watercolor of the Westvaco Paper Mill in Covington, VA. This town is interestingly caught in time—probably from the mid-seventies. I'm sure the residents would argue differently, but as a visitor, it strikes me as old-fashioned. It is an amazing sight to come around a corner and see the plant. A rather time consuming painting

2008-12-22T22:27:00.000-05:00

December 22

Abandoned the first Edward Hopper engraving, and started afresh. Referenced L. Baskin's The Leper for inspiration. Completed this small gouache painting of Key West. I am looking to get comfortable with this method of sketching for the month in Italy. You can accomplish much more photographic research with a camera, but I would like to get more practiced with outdoor painting.

2008-12-20T22:30:00.000-05:00

Realize talking about my struggles is boring and non-productive. Began an engraving of Edward Hopper, another Scoundrel. Hopper because despite his beautiful work, particularly in watercolor, seems to have been insecure enough to battle constantly with his wife Jo, to the point of dragging her out of their car and hitting her when she didn't learn driving as well as he wanted. (Gail Levin, Intimate Biography of Edward Hopper.) He may not make the final cut, but will be added to the group, as a seriously flawed yet productive individual. The engraving so far is seriously flawed as well. Although I have found that microwaving the Resingrave block for a minute at power level 7 softens the material, and makes it easier to carve, and produces less chipping. Today was spent shopping for watercolors in Richmond--limiting myself to 25 colors to take to Italy.

2008-12-20T11:13:00.000-05:00

preliminary drawing for relief engraving

Scoundrel Series: J. E. Hoover

2008-12-19T17:26:00.000-05:00

December 12: I began a small (4" x 3") engraving on Resingrave for my Scoundrels series. This one of J. Edgar Hoover. I am really not that interested in exact likenesses. I finished it on the 19th, so now I know, it takes me 5 days to finish and print an engraving. I also began a watercolor of a summer clothesline, which I am struggling with.